Articles

TASA ID: 1220

If you have not had a great deal of experience in litigation against county child welfare agencies, then there are some things which are helpful to know up front.  Like most people being sued, CPS agencies don’t like it.  They see themselves as “on the side of the angels” for children being abused and neglected and as proponents for strengthening families.  And indeed, the vast majority of the time, they are.  However, owing to a number of factors, including caseloads, insufficient staffing, divergent levels of skills, personal bias, ill-serving mindsets, and lack of resources; to name a few, mistakes will occur.  Sometimes in my experience, they are unintended. They may not be deliberate owing to the press of work that rushes a judgment or fails to look at all the details, including exculpatory evidence. 

TASA ID: 10544

Randy A. Martens is a Certified Protection Officer (CPO).  We don’t know Randy but can tell you he has raised a serious issue, that many security and protection officers face day in and day out.  

Randy said, “One of the leading questions asked by security professionals nationwide is, “What power do I really have?” 

In all fairness, this is a legitimate question and the answer to that question is not always simplistic! 
 
Typically, a security officer is hired to do one thing: protect people, assets, and information. 

TASA ID: 10544

"Barbara Coloroso (2003), on page 13 in her book, The Bully, The Bullied and the Bystander, defines bullying as:

 "a conscious, willful, and deliberate hostile activity intended to harm, induce fear through the threat of further aggression, and create terror."  

Coloroso contends that four elements characterize all bullies, no matter what sex, age or job title: 

(1) an imbalance of power, in which the bully is bigger, stronger or more favorably situated than the victim; 

(2) the bully has an intent to harm, knowing he or she will inflict emotional or physical pain, and revels in the fact;  

(3) a threat of further aggression exists, in which the bully and victim both know that this act of aggression will not be the last; and 

(4) terror persists-the extreme, continuing agitation of the victim. 

The essence of bullying, according to Coloroso, is not anger but contempt. The bully sees the bullied as not worth respect or empathy.  The bully is consummately arrogant."   

TASA ID: 1646

What should school administrators immediately begin to do to protect their school districts’ treasuries from being drained dry by negligence lawsuits? Let’s take a page out of New York Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg’s "book." Mayor Bloomberg has put the New York City schools on notice by announcing his objective to ferret out and punish disruptive students in the public schools, particularly those in schools with high rates of criminal violence (in previous years thought of as normal), and hold the principals more accountable for reducing disciplinary problems within their schools. My advice is that school administrators should structure their discipline policies along Mayor Bloomberg’s "safety first" principles. 

TASA ID: 2534

The pressure to run a successful hospitality operation is greater than ever.  Between rising labor, food and rent costs and an intensely competitive marketplace, owners are finding it tougher to reach a profitable bottom line.  Now add to this the fact that the industry is a popular target in the legal arena with wage, discrimination, harassment and accident lawsuits which can often add up to significant expense for the operator.  For owners to successfully manage this difficult environment, they must operate at a very high and professional level and become proactive in addressing the threats to their business.  In terms of preventing and managing accidents, this means developing and implementing a system of safeguards that minimize exposure. This article will focus on accidents and incidents due to slips and falls, cuts and burns and foreign objects found in food.  The following are keys to creating that system: